The streaming music service has many competitors but none more
rigid than Spotify, which has gained influence as the leader in
this realm over the past year or so.

I've used many different services, and since they all have the
same core functionality, I've found it's the user interface and
general ideology of presentation that sets each one apart from
the other. My favorite among them has been Spotify.

I've started playing with Apple Music and I like it a lot. I like
the basic user interface (it's very pretty), the way your music
integrates with the app, and the new music discovery tab (which
is far better than Spotify's options). But it's all in the presentation and the
ideology. And the main reason I have loved being a
Spotify subscriber is playlists.

Wonderfully curated, perfectly timed, and intelligently divided
depending on what mood you may be in or what you're doing.
Spotify is the king of curated playlists.

This just doesn't work well in Apple Music right now. And since I
believe this is Spotify's best feature, Apple's really going to
have to do some convincing.

In Spotify, you can tap on "Browse" and get two awesome ways to
choose what kind of playlist you want to listen to (curated by
Spotify).

First, there is a carousel on top (pictured left) that gives you
a number of suggestions tailored to the time of day and the mood
you may be in. For example, an "Evening Commute" playlist, or
"Smooth Morning," or maybe "Rock to Work."

Then, if you scroll down, you see a number of different
categories all of which, when you tap them, reveal playlists.

So, for example, you can tap "Mood," and see tons of awesome
Spotify curated playlists geared towards making you happy, or
songs that identify with your deep sorrows, etc. There's also
"Workout," "Chill," "Party," and many others. They are certainly
not confined to genres, but focused more on your state of mind.
That's a feature I really appreciate to the point that it's
almost the only way I use Spotify.

Business Insider/Matt Johnston

Apple Music, however, doesn't give you all of that on a silver
platter. And I'd be lying if I said that didn't make me a bit
concerned that Apple Music isn't going to work for me.

The "For You" tab is where Apple puts the focus of the music app.
Here you will see suggestions, based on selections you made
initially, on what to listen to. These are often genre playlists,
or playlists for specific artists.

The "For You" tab on Apple
Music.Business Insider/Matt
Johnston

These playlists are also mixed in with whole album suggestions.
So I may have to scroll through 4-6 album cover suggestions
before I get to the next playlist selection which really could be
anything. And often it's not a playlist that is focusing on my
state of mind or situation, but rather based on music I've
previously identified as stuff I've liked.

Now, Apple, says this "For You" tab is supposed to get better
over time. In theory, it notices your behavior on the app and
starts giving you better and better selections. Time will tell
how well that happens.

However, mood or activity based playlists do in fact exist on
Apple Music. But you have to go digging.

For example, I can search for "morning" and then after some
scrolling and tapping, get myself to an entire lists of Apple
curated playlists that could easily suit one of my many morning
moods (or a mood I want to be in).

Once you find that playlist, you can then add it to your music so
it's saved and ready for you the next time you're interested
(It's notable, however, that as of right now these playlists only
have 12-15 songs or so on them, while Spotify often has dozens).

But the idea here is not to browse in a relaxing way for the
playlists that may stick out to you at any given time. Spotify
goes out of its way to spoon feed you stuff you might very well
love at whatever time of the day you're in.

I want to relax into my music experience, not aggressively attack
it.

The results of a playlist
search for "morning."Business
Insider/Matt Johnston

I don't always know what I want to listen to, and that should be
an opportunity rather than a hindrance.

Of course, this could all change, I've only spent a few short
hours with Apple Music so far and there's a lot to like outside
of this playlist issue. It's also something Apple could easily
fix in the future. But it's notable that as of right now, the
best thing about Spotify, to me, is not really a part of Apple
Music.

*Update*

A smart commentor below dug up what I couldn't and found a pretty
cool section where all these playlists are located in neat
categories:

Business Insider / Matt
Johnston

This is a great addition but it still doesn't quite solve the
problem.

First of all, this section is buried. It's under the "New" tab at
the bottom. Then once you get there you have to scoll down quite
a ways until it shows up way under a few charts and a bunch of
album suggestions. It's completely buried.

Also, it's not tailored to your situation at the time. It's not
recommending playlists, it's just saying they have a bunch of
playlists for different activites people do. This is a great
start, but we're still not there yet. And that's if you can even
dig up this section and don't mind spending the extra time
navigating to it.